Insights That Transform

There have been spirited conversations lately around SIGMA having to do with the idea of insights and our ability to convey those insights to our clients.

The drum that I (we) beat to is that our clients demand value and the real value we give to our clients is insights. Not the work that goes into delivering those insights, but the “secret sauce” that gives our clients their competitive advantage in their marketplace.

I’m often on the road visiting our clients. It’s my favorite part of my job. I’m a client-driven leader who places loads of value on caring about what our clients think, know, ask, and need. It’s amazing how helpful it is if you ask questions as basic as, “What can we be doing better?” “How are things going?” And, “What are we not doing that would be helpful for driving your business forward?”

In asking these questions I learn so much and in almost all instances hear a common theme. The replies often sound like this: “Tell me something that I may not know, or tell me what I don’t know.” Or, “Help me understand more.” The common responses all point to our clients wanting more and more meaningful insights.

From these conversations came the idea of “Insights That Transform.” It’s not enough simply to organize client data and churn through the activity of analytical modeling for the purpose of determining the next campaign strategy or customer profile, or predictive behavior. We need to go deeper. Our insights should lead our clients to amazing discoveries that have the potential to transform their business and change the way they think about their customers. Really.

“Insights That Transform” is the guided discovery of opportunity behind the reported data. It’s the place you go that’s just a little further. It’s the understanding of the data not just as what, but as why and as what you can do with it next. Think of it as a holistic causation.

Here’s an example: If we are doing our job properly, we should very closely understand the business of our clients. As marketers we need to be in the field and talk to the front line operators, hear from them what they value and how we could help propel their business further.

SIGMA has a killer reporting tool within our mi-link^SM marketing technology platform that makes data come to life in a visually arresting way, with lots of colors, bubbles, charts, graphs and easy-to-understand reports. The dashboard is customizable and can be tailored to the needs of the client. mi-link^SM offers great data visualization, which must be part of any good marketing automation tool/platform.

This visualization tool gives us great…reports. The reports deliver insights that can and do drive action. However, the reports only go so far. Finding deep insights comes from further discovery, understanding and asking “Why?” True value comes from more… “Why?” Deeper insights and deeper more meaningful answers upon which marketers can transform their business come from asking more questions and pondering the equation to answer, “Why?” Finding the “why” will lead to better insights that transform.

Clearly the number one desire of any marketing automation solution is conversion to an eventual sale. The marketing automation tool within SIGMA’s mi-link^SM marketing technology platform certainly helps in that process. Combine a solid marketing automation platform with intellectual capital that answers “Why?” and you have a winning combination.

Check out mi-link^SM, our marketing insights automation tool, and think about the insights you can use to transform your business – not just to get more conversions, but to create a winning paradigm shift for your company.